


Food Chain

by Steangine



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Fluff, Furry, M/M, Seal Dante, Sealte, Shark Vergil, Sharkgil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:21:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22907698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steangine/pseuds/Steangine
Summary: One day, a shark and a seal broke the food chain and became friends.[VerDan ; shark Vergil, seal Dante]
Relationships: Dante/Vergil (Devil May Cry)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 79





	Food Chain

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文-普通话 國語 available: [【授翻】Food Chain 食物链中二三事](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23269039) by [Alcube](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alcube/pseuds/Alcube)



> Ethfinch and Hodiaa are my source of furry inspiration.

The warm sun always lures the seals on the rocks. They play into the water, glide to dive deep into the water and come back to repeat it; some doze off and bask into the sunrays. Yet, none of them is solely focused on spending some lazy time until the sun sets.

Those waters hide their natural predators. Sharks are patiently waiting, observing the shadows moving above them to attack in the right moment and drag down to death their daily meal. So, the seals play, but pay attention to what could jump out at any moment; they rest but are always ready to scamper away.

All of them are always on alert. All of them but one. Dante is napping without a single worry in the world (except maybe what fish he would eat later), warming his reddish fur on the top of a rock, the closest to the water, the one rock no seal ever sleep on – meaning nobody is going to disturb him. Dante sleeps soundly, rocked by the sweet sound of the waves gently slapping the shore.

From not that far from where he was lying, a shark was swimming in circles. He emerged only to take a look at the group of rocks, in particular the one rock where there was the chunky reddish seal.

Some of the older seals, due to their experience, felt something was wrong, and they were the first ones to throw the alarm, shrieking while escaping so that their companions could avoid the danger. As the fin got dangerously closer and closer, the seals escaped from the sea to scamper on the mainland, out of the reach of those scary jaws ready to grind their juicy flesh.

Dante was the last one to notice and the last one to move. Too round to move fast, he barely had the time to boing on another rock that the shark pierced through the water surface and lands his huge snout on the rock, few centimeters from him. Dante freezes in fear as he stares at the big black deep mouth. For a strike of luck, he didn’t finish impaled between two lines of sharp teeth and the shark slowly slid back into the cold ocean, leaving behind a trail of dead fish falling from his mouth.

Everything went back to calm.

Dante dragged himself near the fish. It smelt fresh, despite being stored in the mouth of a shark. Maybe that was his lucky day, and Dante didn’t question an easy meal ready for him. He didn’t think even for a second that the shark could come back.

It took Vergil two weeks to spot again that seal. He inspected every area where seals used to hunt and play before he found him, lying on the rocks. It was him, his color was unique and Vergil couldn’t forget the seal who carelessly approached him while he wriggled in pain and snatched the hook away from his fin. Despite being a round ball of fat, the seal dashed away too fast and Vergil couldn’t catch him in time.

After being sure he wasn’t going anywhere, it was easy for Vergil finding some fish to bring him as a present. Judging how the seal was eating the fish, he was enjoying it. Vergil was satisfied, his debt was sealed.

***

Few weeks later, Vergil aimed for a group of seals. He was lurking in the shadows of the ocean, waiting for the right moment to grab one of them. But he didn’t expect that, entering the range the seals could sense him, one of them swum right in his direction. Before he could think of how lucky he was that he crossed path with a stupid seal, he recognized the reddish fur.

Vergil had his jaws already open and Dante swam right into his mouth.

It was a very curious situation. Vergil kept his mouth open, even if with some snaps he could have his breakfast; Dante was barking, his tail wagging right and left. That swing helped him going back and getting free from that deadly trap.

Vergil was sure he would escape right away. Surprisingly, Dante didn’t. He swum in a whirlpool around Vergil, who wasn’t able to recognize those barks: he wasn’t trying to escape in fear nor fighting back in anger. The seal kept poking his nose at him, until Vergil accelerated, creating a stream around him which hurled the seal away.

Few minutes later, Dante was back and made a circle in front of Vergil, leaving a dead fish dangling in front of him. He barked again and pushed it towards Vergil with his snout.

The seal was thanking him back. And that was a problem, because Vergil already thanked him, so now the balance was off again.

Vergil growled. Dante barked happily.

***

Another day, another escape.

But Dante was waiting at the edge of the rocks and scampered clumsily to the water when all his sisters and brothers were fleeing in the opposite direction. It was the same shark who brought him fish, and Dante greeted him with some loud barks. He slapped his flippers on the rock, inviting him to join for the daily bath in the sun. Yet, the shark kept swimming back and forth, his fin cutting the water each time he arrived in front of Dante without climbing on the rocks.

Dante emitted a sad verse. Was he ignoring him? The moment he thought it, the shark slammed his huge head on the rocks and erupted some fishes from his mouth before leaving. Dante looked at all that fish, which could sate his hunger for at least two days, and clapped his belly in joy. Then, he threw himself into the water.

He was clumsy on land, but fast into water. He reached the shark and swam around him. Vergil didn’t get why that seal kept sticking to him. The second debt was sealed, so there was no need for him to track his tail. He changed direction three times to make sure he wasn’t just so dumb to feel like swimming when it was obvious other sharks were hunting their lunch, but the seal tailed him like a well-skilled predator.

Another shark, young an inexperienced, was foolish enough to enter Vergil’s comfort zone. He was descending in circles, maybe to make sure that Vergil wasn’t interested in the prey who was bothering him – from the outside, it may look like the seal was just mocking him for not reacting at all like one would expect from a predator with their prey. But as it was clear the shark was aiming at the seal and not just examining the area, Vergil made a U-turn which confused Dante.

Dante was left in confusion, turning his head in every possible direction to check what was wrong, ignoring that, above his head, Vergil snatched his jaws once, enough to scare the young shark away. He swam back to Dante who, as spotted him again, clapped his flippers on the belly and whirled on himself.

Vergil’s growl seemed like a human’s sigh.

***

Breaking all the natural laws, Vergil never tried to eat Dante, and Dante never escaped in front of him. Dante always dived into the water as soon as he recognized the fin, and Vergil, despite his instinct of a lone shark, never put much effort in shooing him away.

Usually, Dante waited on the same rock until he spotted Vergil, then they swum together until Dante had to go back to the surface to get some air. Until, one day, Vergil didn’t come.

Being a seal, Dante didn’t have the sense of time, so he enjoyed the warm sun without any hurry. However, as three days passed, even him started feeling something was odd. He didn’t think that sharks were patrolling the area aiming for some fat seals to feast on, because his head was focused on his friend who wasn’t there like always.

Underwater, he paid attention to catch a familiar fluctuation in the water and watch with extreme attention any shadow to see if it was Vergil. He emerged two times before his whiskers detected a vibration of the water he recognized. With a fast dash, Dante reached the bottom, where he finally found Vergil. He was lying in a current which brought fresh oxygen directly into his gills.

Dante emitted a happy noise, but Vergil didn’t react. Dante whirled once in front of him and clapped his flippers: no reaction again. He tilted his head and leaned on the sand in front of him, trying to figure what was wrong. Did he need food? Was he sad?

Vergil slightly opened his mouth, and something unusual dangled into it. Dante slapped the flippers against the sand few times and stretched his neck to get a closer look – it was funny how he could stretch and then compress in a ball without any problem. Vergil was reluctant, but he opened his mouth again: two big human hooks were stuck near his teeth, inside the flesh.

When Dante grabbed one with his mouth, Vergil shook his whole body and sent him flying few meters from him. But Dante swam back and tried again. This time, Vergil was more patient, and kept his jaws open; it hurt, but Dante took one hook off, then the other as well.

Vergil snatched his jaws twice, now free from that painful trap which made impossible for him eating without feeling a sharp itch spreading in his whole mouth. Dante clapped his flippers and made whirls and circles around Vergil, who looked like he went back to his original self.

Then, when Vergil swum upwards to go look for the food he couldn’t properly enjoy for three whole days, Dante almost slammed into him. Their snouts brushed one against the other, Vergil felt a pleasant relaxation in his whole body and he did something he had never done in his whole life: he turned upside down and slowly let himself lean on the bottom of the ocean again.

Dante didn’t know what Vergil was doing, but that was similar to what he did on the rocks, enjoying the warmth of the day. So, he leaned next to him and clapped on his belly, happy to spend some time with his friend.

**Author's Note:**

> When I finished this fic, I checked something on seals and read that they slap their bellies during courtship as well. So, yeah, Dante is courting now Vergil, congrats.


End file.
